


General Allegiance

by lettered



Category: Black Panther (2018), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Allegiance, Fealty, Gen, Spy Stuff, knights in armor, nights in armor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-24
Updated: 2018-05-24
Packaged: 2019-05-13 06:13:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14743470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lettered/pseuds/lettered
Summary: Natasha wants Okoye to be a super hero.  Okoye wants Natasha to be herself.





	General Allegiance

Natasha slipped into Okoye’s apartment that evening with relative ease, but when Okoye returned to retire for the evening, she didn’t seem surprised. She simply began removing her armor, piece by piece, steady and methodical.

“Cap’s recruiting,” Natasha said.

“Hm.” Okoye took off the shoulder pieces, then the bracers.

“The world’s in chaos with so many people gone—political leaders, law enforcement. We need to give people some stability.”

“If you want stability, you wouldn’t ask me to leave,” Okoye said, then took off her tabard.

She sounded like Steve, and Natasha didn’t understand patriotism. You couldn’t trust a country; you couldn’t touch it. Natasha suspected that if she could hear the heartbeat of an idea, she’d be a better person. “You still served Killmonger,” Natasha said. “Even though you disagreed with him. Why?”

“I served Wakanda.”

“How did you know you were doing the right thing?”

A smile pulled up Okoye’s cheek, briefly flashing teeth. “I didn’t.”

Steve always said stuff like that too. Then he went and did it anyway, never seeming to doubt. _I always doubt_ , Steve had told her once. _I’m always angry,_ Bruce had once said too. Both seemed better than never ‘always’ being anything. Natasha wasn’t even sure there was a through-line between who she had been since coming in Okoye’s window and now. “I thought the Accords were right,” Natasha said. “Look where that got me.”

“Can’t have been that bad. It got you to Wakanda.” Okoye smiled. “Why did you change sides?” 

“It’s in my nature,” Natasha said.

“Uh-huh. I’ve read your files. Not just the public ones.”

“Then you know I was a weapon. I wasn’t built to have ideals. I wasn’t programmed for loyalty.” 

Okoye tilted her head, still smiling a little. “Wait until I take my armor off, then disarm me with your vulnerability. What were you going to try next?”

“Something about a higher calling?” Natasha said easily. “I told you Rogers was recruiting.” 

“You had to know my place is here.”

“Still worth a try,” Natasha said.

Okoye smiled again, surprisingly warm. “And what are you trying now—honesty? So I’ll believe you in the future?”

“I don’t know,” said Natasha. “Will you?” 

“Would you?”

“No.”

“I see.” Okoye sounded as though she really did see something, and Natasha didn’t like it. When Bruce had looked at her that way Natasha had always felt like he could see himself in her, the monsters they were underneath. When Steve looked at her that way she felt certain he couldn’t see the ugliness at all, and that was somehow worse.

“Nakia planned to usurp Wakanda’s king,” Okoye said, after a long moment. “Do you know what we call her in Wakanda?”

Cold spilled over Natasha.

“A hero,” Okoye said.

“Who’s disarming whom?” Natasha said roughly.

Okoye smiled that smile again, the one that was entirely too merry for the general of an elite force of the best warriors in the world. “That depends,” she said, “on who’s recruiting whom.”


End file.
